


honour

by saamraagini



Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe, Gen, baahubali: the conclusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 12:25:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11104536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saamraagini/pseuds/saamraagini
Summary: Kattappa never liked amavasya nights even as a child. The darkness that descends without the moon to guard the skies has always struck him as an eerie, unsettling one. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the warrior-moon battling darkness, protecting a slumbering world from evil. It is this story he is thinking of as he looks up at the empty sky that night, when Sivagami summons him to the King’s Chambers.// alternate ending, where Kattappa walks away before he stains his hand with the blood of his friend, his almost-son.





	honour

Kattappa knows something is amiss the moment he sets foot in the chambers. He finds Bijjaladeva scowling at a wall, as always, and Sivagami sits on her throne, all fury and bloodshot eyes, brooding. He smells the blood in the air before he sees it; then, his eyes fall on Bhallaladeva. 

“Your Highness!” He starts, but is silenced with a wave of Sivagami’s hand. He bows, hand to shoulder, and waits.

“Kattappa. Your ancestors pledged your family to the throne of Mahishmati, and to the service of this royal household. You yourself took an oath to obey any and all commands set forth by the king.” Bhalla thunders. “Do you stand by this oath?”

“I have, and I do. Your command? _Uttarava, Arasai._ ” * He bows, his voice devoid of emotion, but he cannot evade the apprehension that claws at his heart.

“Kill Baahubali,” Bhalla snarls.

Kattappa takes a step back and reaches for his sword instinctively. _Where did we go wrong with this child?_ He stops himself just in time, and looks up at Bhalla. “Why, Your Highness? What has he done?”

“That does not concern you. Your King commands you, kill him.”

He turns to Sivagami. _Surely she will see sense; how can she not?_

“Rajamata? What is your son commanding me to do? How can this be happening with your consent?” He falls to his knees, and lets the grief that clutches at his throat loose. “I beg of you, Rajamata Sivagami, tell your son to take his command back. The sun may rise in the West, but _your_ Baahubali can do no wrong. He is your son, he grew up on your lap; your dharma is his dharma. _This is not right._ ” He pleads desperately for her to see this folly for what it is. _She must._

Sivagami’s voice does not shake when she speaks; her voice is soft, her eyes are unmistakably bloodshot, but she resolutely stares ahead at the sky. “Baahubali must die.”

Kattappa shakes his head, his eyes brimming. “I cannot, Rajamata.” He unsheathes his sword at her feet. “Take my head for it, _Amma_ , but I cannot, _will not_ , kill your son.”

Sivagami’s eyes flash. “Will you kill him, Kattappa? Or is this blood to be on my hands?”

In that moment, the world shifts underneath him. _She means to go through with it._ He reels backwards, away from that cursed throne, away from Sivagami’s feet, away from the filth of this plot, unsheathed sword in hand. Every little injustice Baahubali and Devasena have suffered at the hands of Bhallaladeva’s villainy and Sivagami’s blindness swims before his eyes. This is the final straw. _No more. No more duty, no more injustice, no more bowing to this madness. **No more.**_

**“** Sivagami.” He does not raise his voice, but her eyes flash at the mention of her name, and in Kattappa’s voice, no less.

“You dog,” Bijjaladeva barks. “Have you forgotten who you are, and where you stand? I will have your head – ” He is silenced by Sivagami’s raised hand. The tremor, however, does not escape Kattappa’s attention.

Ignoring Bijjaladeva, he looks Sivagami in the eye for the first time in the thirty years he has served her. He does not waver, but tears blur his sight. “You are so blinded by your anger and your arrogance, you have failed to see the truth that is right before your eyes. Do you truly believe he has betrayed you by _challenging_ you? He has only ever done what his mother has taught him, Sivagami: he has protected the honour of the woman he has loved, the woman who has loved him. _You_ taught him his Kshatriya dharma; _you_ taught him to oppose anyone, even God, if it is for the sake of dharma.

“Do you not see the sadness in his eyes when he looks for his mother and finds you turned away from him? Has your arrogance truly blinded you so much? He has obeyed your every command, every step of the way. _He has always, always been true to your upbringing, Sivagami_!” He does not contain the sob that constricts his throat then. “You have failed him, Rajamata. We have all failed that man. But no more, Rajamata. No more. I shall betray Amarendra Baahubali no more.”

He takes a deep breath, steadying himself, and turns to Bhalla. “I am ashamed to call myself your guru, Your Highness.” His voice is empty of all emotion. “Even in calling for Baahubali’s death, you take the coward’s way out. You order his assassination, and that too, at the hands of his guru, his friend, rather than face him on the battlefield, with honour, as a warrior would.”

Bhalla roars his outrage, and when he lunges, sword in hand, Kattappa stands ready. He disarms Bhalla easily; he may be no match for Bhalla's brute strength, but his swordsmanship is unparalleled in the kingdom.

“Your Highness, Rajamata,” he addresses them both in turn, ignoring Bijjaladeva’s sputtering rage, and he later realises, fear. _This dog has finally revolted._ “I have stood by this madness long enough. If you choose to face Baahubali in the battlefield, with your honour intact, you shall find this Karikala Kattappa at his side. If you choose to have him murdered, like a coward,” he looks down unflinchingly at Bhalla, and allows himself the slightest hint of ferocity in his voice, “you shall find him protected.”

His voice softens instinctively when he turns to Sivagami, a consequence, perhaps, of the decades of his unwavering loyalty to her. “Reconsider, _Amma_ , there is yet time to make amends with your son. He only ever awaits you.” Fleetingly, he sees a flicker of sadness, of such momentous grief in her eyes, he almost stops. Almost. But it is replaced by her mask of impassivity before he can be sure of himself.

And so, Kattappa turns his back on the Royal Family of Mahishmati.

 

 

*

 

Kattappa stands by Devasena as his grandson is born.

Amarendra Baahubali does not die at his _mama_ ’s hands this time.

The crying, squealing Mahendra Baahubali is held first by his grandfather.

Devesena keeps her husband and son,  
(she even goes on to have a daughter, a spitting image of herself, just as her son is her husband’s.)

When the army of Mahishmati finally comes for the lives of Amarendra Baahubali and his family, Kattappa stands by their side this time.

**Author's Note:**

> * Uttarava Arasai: "Your command, King." (Tamil)
> 
>  Author note: Yes, I know, some of it is quite out of character, and I recognise this wholeheartedly. But I just really needed to write this out of my system, because I honestly believe Kattappa should have, and would have, stood by Amarendra Baahubali.


End file.
